The channel was created by Australian-American media mogulRupert Murdoch, who hired former NBC executive Roger Ailes as its founding CEO.[2] It launched on October 7, 1996,[3] to 17 million cable subscribers.[4] It grew during the late 1990s and 2000s to become the dominant cable news network in the United States.[5]

History

Early years

In May 1985, Australian publisher Rupert Murdoch announced that he and American industrialist and philanthropistMarvin Davis intended to develop "a network of independent stations as a fourth marketing force" to compete directly with CBS, NBC, and ABC through the purchase of six television stations owned by Metromedia.[9] In July 1985, 20th Century Fox announced that Murdoch had completed his purchase of 50 percent of Fox Filmed Entertainment, the parent company of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation.[10] A year later, 20th Century Fox earned $5.6 million in its fiscal third period ended May 31, 1986, in contrast to a loss of $55.8 million in the third period of the previous year.[11]

Prior to founding FNC, Murdoch had gained experience in the 24-hour news business when News Corporation's BSkyB subsidiary began Europe's first 24-hour news channel (Sky News) in the United Kingdom in 1989.[12] With the success of his fourth network efforts in the United States,[13][14] experience gained from Sky News and the turnaround of 20th Century Fox, Murdoch announced on January 31, 1996, that News Corp. would launch a 24-hour news channel on cable and satellite systems in the United States as part of a News Corp. "worldwide platform" for Fox programming: "The appetite for news – particularly news that explains to people how it affects them – is expanding enormously".[15]

In February 1996, after former U.S. Republican Party political strategist and NBC executive[16]Roger Ailes left cable television channel America's Talking (now MSNBC), Murdoch asked him to start Fox News Channel. Ailes demanded five months of 14-hour workdays and several weeks of rehearsal shows[citation needed] before its launch on October 7, 1996.[17]

At its debut 17 million households were able to watch FNC;[4] however, it was absent from the media markets of New York City and Los Angeles. According to published reports, many media reviewers had to watch the first day's programming at Fox News' studios because it was not readily available via cable.[citation needed] Rolling news coverage during the day consisted of 20-minute single-topic shows such as Fox on Crime or Fox on Politics, surrounded by news headlines. Interviews featured facts at the bottom of the screen about the topic or the guest. The flagship newscast at the time was The Schneider Report, with Mike Schneider's fast-paced delivery of the news. During the evening, Fox featured opinion shows: The O'Reilly Report (now The O'Reilly Factor), The Crier Report (hosted by Catherine Crier) and Hannity & Colmes.

From the beginning, FNC has placed heavy emphasis on visual presentation. Graphics were designed to be colorful and attention-getting; this helped the viewer to grasp the main points of what was being said, even if they could not hear the host (with on-screen text summarizing the position of the interviewer or speaker, and "bullet points" when a host was delivering commentary). Fox News also created the "Fox News Alert," which interrupted its regular programming when a breaking news story occurred.

To accelerate its adoption by cable providers, Fox News paid systems up to $11 per subscriber to distribute the channel.[18] This contrasted with the normal practice, in which cable operators paid stations carriage fees for programming. When Time Warner bought Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting System, a federal antitrustconsent decree required Time Warner to carry a second all-news channel in addition to its own CNN on its cable systems. Time Warner selected MSNBC as the secondary news channel, not Fox News. Fox News claimed that this violated an agreement (to carry Fox News). Citing its agreement to keep its U.S. headquarters and a large studio in New York City, News Corporation enlisted the help of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's administration to pressure Time Warner Cable (one of the city's two cable providers) to transmit Fox News on a city-owned channel.[19] City officials threatened to take action affecting Time Warner's cable franchises in the city.[20]

A lawsuit was filed by Time Warner against the City of New York, claiming undue interference with (and inappropriate use of) the city's educational channels for commercial programming. News Corporation countered with an antitrust lawsuit against Time Warner for unfairly protecting CNN. This led to an acrimonious battle between Murdoch and Turner, with Turner publicly comparing Murdoch to Adolf Hitler; Murdoch's New York Post ran an editorial questioning Turner's sanity. Giuliani's motives were also questioned, since his wife was a producer at Murdoch-owned Fox station WNYW. In the end, Time Warner and News Corporation signed a settlement agreement permitting Fox News to be carried on New York City cable systems beginning in October 1997, and on all Time Warner Cable systems by 2001 (although Time Warner still does not carry Fox News in all areas).[citation needed]

During the September 11, 2001 attacks, Fox News was the first news organization to run a news ticker on the bottom of the screen to keep up with the flow of information that day. The ticker has remained, informing viewers about additional news which reporters may not mention on-screen and repeating news mentioned during a broadcast; it has proven popular with viewers.[21]

In an October 11, 2009 New York Times article, Fox articulated that its hard-news programming runs from "9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. on weekdays" and "[is] objective"; however, it makes no such claims for its other broadcasts, which primarily consist of editorial journalism and commentary.[22]

High-definition

Fox News Channel began broadcasting in the 720p resolution format on May 1, 2008.[23] This format is available on all major cable and satellite providers.

Radio

With the growth of FNC, the company introduced a radio division, Fox News Radio, in 2003. Syndicated throughout the United States, the division provides short newscasts and talk radio programs featuring personalities from the television and radio divisions. In 2006, the company also introduced Fox News Talk, a satellite radio station featuring programs syndicated by (and featuring) Fox News personalities.

Online

Introduced in December 1995,[24] the Fox News website features the latest coverage (including columns by FNC television, radio and online personalities). Video clips are also available on Foxnews.com and Foxbusiness.com.

In September 2008, FNC joined other channels in introducing a live streaming segment to its website: The Strategy Room, designed to appeal to older viewers. It airs weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and takes the form of an informal discussion, with running commentary on the news. Regular discussion programs include Business Hour, News With a View and God Talk.[25] In March 2009, The Fox Nation was launched as a website intended to encourage readers to post, commenting on the news.[26] Fox News Mobile is the portion of the FNC website dedicated to streaming news clips formatted for video-enabled mobile phones.[27]

Ratings and reception

FNC saw a large ratings jump during the early stages of the Iraq conflict. According to some reports, at the height of the conflict Fox News had as much as a 300-percent increase in viewership (averaging 3.3 million viewers daily).[29] In 2004, FNC's ratings for its broadcast of the Republican National Convention exceeded those of the three major broadcast networks. During President George W. Bush's address, Fox News attracted 7.3 million viewers nationally; NBC, ABC, and CBS had a viewership of 5.9 million, 5.1 million and 5.0 million respectively.

In late 2005 and early 2006, FNC saw a brief decline in ratings. One decline was in the second quarter of 2006, when Fox News lost viewers for every prime-time program compared with the previous quarter. The audience for Special Report with Brit Hume, for example, dropped 19 percent. Several weeks later, in the wake of the North Korean missile crisis and the 2006 Lebanon War, Fox saw a surge in viewership and remained the #1-rated cable news channel.[30][31] Fox produced eight of the top ten most-watched nightly cable news shows, with The O'Reilly Factor and Hannity & Colmes finishing first and second respectively.[32]

FNC ranked #8 in viewership among all cable channels in 2006, and #6 in 2007.[33] The channel ranked #1 during the week of Barack Obama's election (November 3–9) in 2008, and reached the top spot again in January 2010 (during the week of the special Senate election in Massachusetts).[34] Comparing Fox to its 24-hour-news-channel competitors, in May 2010 the channel drew an average daily prime-time audience of 1.8 million viewers (versus 747,000 for MSNBC and 595,000 for CNN).[35]

In September 2009, the Pew Research Center published a report on the public view of national news organizations. In the report, 72 percent of polled Republican Fox viewers rated the channel as "favorable", while 43 percent of polled Democratic viewers and 55 percent of all polled viewers shared that opinion. However, Fox was given the highest "unfavorable" rating of all national outlets studied (25 percent of all polled viewers). The report went on to say, "partisan differences in views of Fox News have increased substantially since 2007".[36]

On the night of October 22, 2012, Fox set a record for its highest-rated telecast ever, with 11.5 million viewers for the third U.S. presidential debate.[37][38] In prime time the week before, Fox averaged almost 3.7 million viewers with a total day average of 1.66 million viewers.[39]

A Public Policy Polling poll concluded in 2013 that perceptions of FNC had declined from 2010. 41% of polled voters said they trust it, down from 49% in 2010, while 46% said they distrust it, up from 37% in 2010. It was also called the "most trusted" network by 34% of those polled, more than had said the same of any other network.[40]

January 2014 marked Fox News's 145th consecutive month as the number one rated cable news channel. During that month, Fox News beat CNN and MSNBC combined in overall viewers in both prime time hours and the total day.[42] In the third quarter of 2014, the network was the most-watched cable channel during prime time hours.[43]

During the final week of the campaign for the United States elections, 2014, Fox News had the highest ratings of any cable channel, news or otherwise. On election night itself, Fox News' coverage had higher ratings than that of any of the other five cable or network news sources among viewers between 25 and 54 years of age.[44]

Demographics

As indicated by a New York Times article, based on Nielsen statistics, Fox appears to have an aging demographic.[45] In 2008, in the 25-54 age group, Fox News had an average of 557,000 viewers, but dropped to 379,000 in 2013 while increasing its overall audience from 1.89 million in 2010 to 2.02 million in 2013. The median age for Fox News viewers is listed as 65+ as Nielsen does not give exact figures for ages over 65.

Slogan

2005 "Fair & Balanced" graphic

"Fair & Balanced" is a trademarked slogan used by the broadcaster, originally used in conjunction with the phrase "Real Journalism". Comedian Al Franken used the slogan in the subtitle for his 2003 book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. In the book, he cites examples of what he claims to be Fox News' bias. On August 7, 2003, Fox News sued for trademark infringement.[46] The lawsuit was dropped three days later, after Judge Denny Chin refused its request for an injunction. In his decision, Chin ruled that the case (Fox v. Franken) was "wholly without merit, both factually and legally". He went on to suggest that Fox News' trademark on the phrase "fair and balanced" could be invalid.[47]

In December 2003, FNC won a legal battle concerning the slogan, when AlterNet filed a cancellation petition with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to have FNC's trademark rescinded as inaccurate. AlterNet included the documentary film Outfoxed as supporting evidence in its case.[48] After losing early motions, AlterNet withdrew its petition; the USPTO dismissed the case.[49] In 2008, FNC used the slogan "We Report, You Decide", referring to "You Decide 2008" (FNC's original slogan for its coverage of election issues).

Controversies

This section may be too long and excessively detailed.
Please consider summarizing the material while citing sources as needed.(February 2015)

A leaked memo from Fox News vice president Bill Sammon to news staff at the height of the health care reform in the United States debate has been cited as an example of the pro-Republican party bias of Fox News. His memo asked the staff to "use the term 'government-run health insurance,' or, when brevity is a concern, 'government option,' whenever possible". The memo was sent shortly after Republican pollster Frank Luntz advised Sean Hannity on his Fox show that "If you call it a public option, the American people are split. If you call it the government option, the public is overwhelmingly against it".[60]

A Pew Research poll released on October 29, 2009 found that Fox News is viewed as the most ideological channel in America. 47 percent of those surveyed said Fox News is "mostly conservative", 14 percent said "mostly liberal" and 24 percent said "neither". In comparison, MSNBC had 36 percent identify it as "mostly liberal", 11 percent as "mostly conservative" and 27 percent as "neither". CNN had 37 percent describe it as "mostly liberal", 11 percent as "mostly conservative" and 33 percent as "neither".[61] A 2004 Pew Research Center survey showed that FNC was cited (unprompted) by 69 percent of national journalists as a conservative news organization. The survey showed that 34 percent of national journalists describe themselves as liberal, compared with 7 percent who describe themselves as conservative.[62]

A poll by Rasmussen Reports found that 31 percent of Americans felt that Fox News has a conservative bias, and 15 percent that it has a liberal bias. The poll also reported that 36 percent believed Fox News delivers news with neither a conservative or liberal bias, compared with 37 percent who said NPR delivers news with no conservative or liberal bias and 32 percent who said the same of CNN.[63] A 2007 study looked at the introduction of Fox News into local U.S. markets between 1996 and 2000, and found that in the 2000 presidential election "Republicans gained 0.4 to 0.7 percentage points in the towns that broadcast Fox News". The study's estimates "imply that Fox News convinced 3 to 28 percent of its viewers to vote Republican, depending on the audience measure".[64]

A 2010 study by Sean Aday comparing Fox News Channel's Special Report With Brit Hume and NBC's Nightly News coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan during 2005 found that both underplayed bad news; it concluded that "Fox News was much more sympathetic to the administration than NBC", suggesting that "if scholars continue to find evidence of a partisan or ideological bias at FNC...they should consider Fox as alternative, rather than mainstream, media". Aday also stated, however, that the data used in his study may have come late enough in the war to be consistent with accepted practice.[clarification needed][65]

Over many months, Fox lulled its conservative base with agitprop: that President Obama was a clear failure, that a majority of Americans saw [Mitt] Romney as a good alternative in hard times, and that polls showing otherwise were politically motivated and not to be believed. But on Tuesday night, the people in charge of Fox News were confronted with a stark choice after it became clear that Mr. Romney had fallen short: was Fox, first and foremost, a place for advocacy or a place for news? In this moment, at least, Fox chose news.[66]

Misrepresentation of facts

Media Matters for America, which bills itself as a "progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media,"[67] cataloged what it called the ten most "egregious examples" of "distortion" by both Fox News and its TV personalities.[68] Criticism includes several examples of cropping quotes from President Obama, Vice President Biden and Vice President Gore so they appear out of context, using image-manipulation software to edit the appearance of reporters from The New York Times and using footage from other events during a report on the November 5, 2009 Tea Party rally in Washington, D.C.; Media Matters said the intention of Fox News was to make it appear as if a larger number of protesters attended the event.[69] The group also called attention to the December 4, 2009 edition of Fox and Friends, accusing the program of misleading its viewers with a "questionable graphic" showing the result of a Rasmussen Reports climate-change poll totaling 120 percent.[70]

In November 2009, Fox News anchor Gregg Jarrett told viewers that a Sarah Palin book signing in Grand Rapids, Michigan had a massive turnout, showing footage of Palin with a large crowd. Jarrett stated that the former Republican vice-presidential candidate is "continuing to draw huge crowds while she's promoting her brand-new book", adding that the images being shown were "some of the pictures just coming in to us.... The lines earlier had formed this morning".[71] The video was actually taken from a 2008 McCain-Palin campaign rally. Fox senior vice president for news Michael Clemente issued a statement saying, "This was a production error in which the copy editor changed a script and didn't alert the control room to update the video".[71] Fox offered an on-air apology the following day during the same Happening Now segment, expressing regrets for what it described as a "video error" with no intent to mislead.[72]

Fox also apologized for fabricated quotes attributed to John Kerry in an article on its website during the 2004 presidential campaign,[73] stating that the piece was a joke which accidentally appeared on the website.[74]

Obama administration conflict with Fox News

In September 2009, the Obama administration engaged in a verbal conflict with Fox News Channel. On September 20, President Obama appeared on all major news programs except Fox News, a snub partially in response to remarks about the president by commentators Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, and Fox coverage of Obama's health-care proposal.[75][76]

In late September 2009, Obama senior advisor David Axelrod and Roger Ailes met in secret to attempt to smooth out tensions between the two camps. Two weeks later, White House officials referred to FNC as "not a news network", communications director Anita Dunn stating that "Fox News often operates as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party".[77][78] President Obama observed, "If media is operating basically as a talk radio format, then that's one thing, and if it's operating as a news outlet, then that's another".[79] White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel stated that it was important "to not have the CNN's and the others in the world basically be led in following Fox".[80]

Within days, it was reported that Fox had been excluded from an interview with administration official Ken Feinberg, with bureau chiefs from the White House press pool (ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN) coming to Fox's defense.[81] A bureau chief stated, "If any member had been excluded it would have been the same thing, it has nothing to do with Fox or the White House or the substance of the issues".[82] Shortly after the story broke, the White House admitted to a low-level mistake, saying that Fox had not made a specific request to interview Feinberg. Fox White House correspondent Major Garrett responded by stating that he had not made a specific request, but that he had a "standing request from me as senior White House correspondent on Fox to interview any newsmaker at the Treasury at any given time news is being made".[83]

On November 8, 2009, the Los Angeles Times reported that an unnamed Democratic consultant was warned by the White House not to appear on Fox News again. According to the article, Anita Dunn claimed in an e-mail to have checked with colleagues who "deal with TV issues" and had been told that nobody had been instructed to avoid Fox. Patrick Caddell, a Fox News contributor and former pollster for President Jimmy Carter, said he had spoken with other Democratic consultants who had received similar warnings from the White House.[84]

On October 2, 2013, Fox News host Anna Kooiman cited on the air a fake story from the National Report parody site, which claimed that President Obama had offered to keep the International Museum of Muslim Cultures open with cash from his own pocket.[85][86][87]

International transmission

The FNC feed is available internationally via a number of providers, while Fox Extra segments provide alternate programming.[88]

Fox Extra

Initially, U.S. advertisements were replaced on FNC with viewer e-mail and profiles of FNC anchors set to music. In 2002, these were replaced with international weather forecasts. In 2006, the weather forecasts were replaced with Fox Extra (originally Fox News Extra, prior to the international launch of Fox Business) segments, narrated reports from Fox on a variety of topics. These reports generally concern lighter issues unrelated to current news events, and the segments are repeated. FNC also shows international weather forecasts when Fox Extra segments run short. In the United Kingdom, after a period when local commercials were inserted into breaks, Fox Extra now fills most breaks.

Brazil

Since 2002, FNC has been broadcast to Brazil; however, commercials are replaced with Fox Extra. It is available in digital packages of NET.

Canada

In 2003, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) rejected a Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association (CCTA) application to bring Fox News to Canada due to concerns that Fox News U.S. and the Global Television Network were planning to create a combined American-Canadian news network. In 2004, after a Fox News U.S. executive said there were no plans to create a combined channel, the CRTC approved an application to bring Fox News to Canada.[90]

France

Fox News is available on cable through French internet providers Free and Orange.

Ireland

FNC is carried in the Republic of Ireland by the British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) satellite television network (Sky), which is 40-percent owned by FNC's parent company, 21st Century Fox. It is run as a sister channel to BSkyB's popular Sky News. FNC is usually broadcast as a VideoGuard-encrypted channel; during major news stories, it may be simulcast on Sky Active, which is free-to-air. As of September 2006, the channel has carried UK-specific advertising, headlines and weather provided by Sky News during its breaks. These run under the brand of Fox News International. Due to the shared ownership of Fox and Sky, Fox News and Sky News share bureaus and reporters for breaking news stories worldwide.

Israel

In Israel, FNC is broadcast on Channel 105 of the satellite provider yes. It is also broadcast on channel 71 on cable operator HOT.[91]

Indonesia

Italy

In Italy, FNC was launched on the now-defunct Italian digital satellite television platform Stream TV in 2001. Part of its programming was translated into Italian and broadcast on the defunct Italian news channel Stream News. In 2003, it moved to SKY Italia, with U.S. commercials replaced by Fox News Extra segments. It is available to 4.6 million subscribers and 160,000 hotel rooms. SKY TG 24 is a sister channel to Fox News.

Netherlands

In the Netherlands, Fox News has been carried by cable providers UPC and CASEMA, and satellite provider Canaldigitaal; all have dropped the channel in recent years. At this time, only cable provider Caiway (available in a limited number of towns in the central part of the country) is broadcasting the channel.

New Zealand

In New Zealand, FNC is broadcast on Channel 088 of pay satellite operator SKY Network Television's digital platform. It was formerly broadcast overnight on free-to-air UHF New Zealand TV channel Prime (owned by SKY); this was discontinued in January 2010, reportedly due to an expiring broadcasting license.[92] Fox News' former parent company News Corporation has a stake in both SKY and Prime.

Scandinavia

Between 2003 and 2006, in Sweden and the other Scandinavian countries, FNC was broadcast 16 hours a day on TV8 (with Fox News Extra segments replacing U.S. advertising). Fox News was dropped by TV8 and replaced by German news channel Deutsche Welle in September 2006.

South Africa

United Kingdom

FNC is also carried in the United Kingdom by Sky, the British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) satellite television network, which is 40-percent owned by FNC parent 21st Century Fox. It is run as a sister channel to BSkyB's own Sky News. FNC is usually broadcast as a VideoGuard-encrypted channel; during major news stories, it may be simulcast on Sky Active, which is free-to-air. As of September 2006[update], the channel has carried UK-specific advertising, headlines and weather provided by Sky News during its breaks. These run under the brand of Fox News International. Beginning in winter 2011, most breaks resumed Fox Extra. Due to the shared ownership of Fox and Sky, Fox News (and Fox Business) and Sky News share bureaus and reporters for breaking news stories worldwide.

Countries where Fox News is provided

Other countries

Fox News Channel is carried in more than 40 other countries. Although service to Japan ceased in summer 2003, it can still be seen on Americable (distributor for American bases),[94] Mediatti (Kadena Air Base)[95] and Pan Global TV Japan.[96]

^Times Staff Writer (October 2, 2004). "Fox Posts Reporter's Kerry Spoof on Website". Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA). Retrieved April 29, 2011. The chief political correspondent for "Fox News" wrote a fictitious story Friday referring to Sen. John F. Kerry as a "metrosexual" who does manicures that was temporarily posted on the network's website.